Keg Deposit To Triple In Michigan: UPDATED

In another chapter of the Heavy Metal Theft Chronicles, Michigan is set to raise the 10 dollar deposit for returning the keg, to 30 dollars. The reason: a steep rise in keg theft to sell the stainless steel for scrap. Here's the amazing thing I found in the article: "Stainless steel was worth about 25 cents a pound late in 2005, but fetched about $1.75 per pound in early May." Holy crap! Two years ago, a thirty pound keg would only return $7.50 at the scrap yard. In 2007, you can get up to $52.50! Hell yeah, I want my 40 dollar profit! It really does make sense to raise the deposit to deter the keg theft. When discussing this story, the bro added his personal anecdotes of seeing abandoned furniture on the streets being stripped of their springs. At almost 2 dollars a pound, that's at least a bottomless cup of coffee at any diner. Is this a heavy metals bubble in the market, or is there going to be a crash soon? I think the business section of our media should start paying attention to this, because when we have Europeans stealing train tracks and telephone lines right off the bridges and poles, and we have people in America breaking into telecom garages to steal spools of cable, there is something going on in the market.

Update: After Michigan's keg deposit raise went into effect, the AP covered the costs distributors are incurring because of keg theft. Ten states so far have even passed legislation requiring ID checks for selling kegs to scrap metal yards. One reason given for the high metal prices is the spike in construction in growing economies. But that cannot even justify the theft of brass plates on a war memorial in Guam. Hopefully, who ever receives the stolen metal will feel some island pride and report the would-be sellers. (h/t to the bro for the Guam story)